The Center team left Weifang and took a taxi to Tsingtao about an hour and a half away. There are no flights from Weifang to Hong Kong or Shenzhen. Tsingtao is famous for its beer. It is a coastal city and is undergoing explosive growth. Building cranes were everywhere. During the ride to Tsingtao, the team observed more of the massive tree planting campaign that China has undertaken. Everywhere the Center team went, trees were planted. China has planted the equivalent of several major forests in tree planting programs. Every highway, urban and suburban area and even rural areas are covered with new tree plantings.

Shenzhen is a prosperous area of 10 million people that is close to Hong Kong, a city of 7 million people. The process of going from the Mainland city of Shenzhen to Hong Kong was interesting. The Center team caught a bus to an area near the Customs station. We were advised that it was a 10 minute walk to the Customs station. After meeting with a Customs agent to modify Zhang Xiaoping's entry pass, the team took a train into Hong Kong, where we processed through the Hong Kong Customs station. The subway trains are new and have about 20 cars with no dividers between each train. It is actually hard to see the front and the back of the train. The trains are packed with people and arrive about every five minutes. It was about a 40 minute train ride into Kowloon (part of Hong Kong across the bay from Hong Kong Island).

Center staff met with CLP Holdings Limited in Hong Kong and met with Dr.Gail Kendall, Director, Group Environmental Affairs and Simeon Cheng, Group Environmental Manager to discuss environmental and energy issues in Hong Kong. CLP Headquarters is located on the 20th floor of the Grand Century Power in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Our group staryed in Kowloon instead of on Hong Kong Island.

Our meeting with Dr. Gail Kendall and Simeon Cheng at the CLP Headquarters was informative. We discussed general environmental issues and focused on air and energy issues in Hong Kong during most of the meeting.

CLP is a huge international conglomerate. CLP Holdings had operating earnings of almost $10 billion in 2006 with total assets of $131 billion. CLP Holdings Limited is the holding company for the CLP Group of companies. It is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is one of the largest investor-owned power businesses in Asia. CLP has operations in Hong Kong, Australia, Chinese Mainland, India, Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

We support CLP's stated strategy for continuing to deliver dependable electricity and environmental protection. CLP plans to utilize a combination of LNG, increased use of ultra-low sulphur coal, completion of the emissions reductions project to retrofit Castle Peak (caol-fired unit), promotion of renewable energy and energy conservation. CLP is also expanding the nuclear energy complex at Daya Bay. We would only add that CLP should utilize more nuclear power in its portfolio. We also understand that LNG is crucial to the continued operation of Black Point Power Station, which currently receives gas from the Yacheng gas field near Hainan Island. The field will not be able to sustain sufficient production early in the next decade.

The CLP Group invited the Center to tour the Daya Bay nuclear power plant and to discuss energy and environmental projects. Founded in Hong Kong in 1901, CLP is one of the largest electricity investor-operators in the Asia Pacific region. CLP owns 25% of Guangdong Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company, Ltd (GNPJVC), which in turns owns the Guangdong Nuclear Power Station (GNPS) at Daya Bay. In Hong Kong, CLP operates a vertically integrated electricity generation, transmission and distribution business, which is regulated by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government agency. With an installed generation capacity of 6,597.5 megawatts and a transmission and distribution network of some 12,000 kilometres. Guangdong Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station was the first, and is the largest, commercial nuclear power plant in China. The power station has an installed capacity of about 1,900 MW. It began operation in 1994 and CLP buys 70 per cent of the plant's output to supply Hong Kong's power needs and the balance is consumed in Guangdong Province.

The nuclear power plant complex is composed of two power stations: 1) Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station and 2) Lingao Nuclear Power Station. The complex is located at Daya Bay about 28 miles (45 km) away from Shenzhen City and 31 miles (50 km) away from Hongkong. Current (2007) total capacity at the complex is 3,764 MWe, which will expand to 5,640 MWe when the two Lingao units go online. The United States should follow this example of placing six reactors in one location.

CLP has a large renewables portfolio, which includes a number of subsidiaries and projects. The projects in Mainland China include 3 wind turbines in Nanao, 16 MW hydro power project in Huaiji, wind turbines in Shuangliao, Changdao, Weihai Rongcheng, biomass in Boxing and hydro in Jiangbian. CLP will also complete construction of two 600 MW coal-fired supercritical units in 2007.

Dr. Gail Kendall is familiar with all of CLP's operations and she enthusiastically responded to our probing questions. She is quite aware that our mission is to see if we can figure out ways to assist CLP with its mission of providing electricity in the most environmentally friendly ways possible. Although they are very large and we are very small, both of us are powerful in our own unique ways. And one never knows where the next big idea will come from. We appreciate that Dr. Kendall took time out of her busy schedule to field our inquiries.

The two reactors at Daya Bay Power Station and the Lingao Nuclear Power Station are identical. These 4 reactors are being supplemented by the addition of two more at this location.

The Daya Bay Power Station is magnificient

Lingao Nuclear Power Station, below, is beautiful tooDaya Bay Nuclear Power Station has two reactors and construction began on August 7, 1987: Unit 1 (944 MWe) began power operations on August 31, 1993 and Unit 2 (944 MWe) began power operations on February 2, 1994. The reactors were designed and built by the French national company, Framatome (with Chinese participation). Guangdong Nuclear Power Joint Venture Co., Ltd was established in 1985, invested jointly by the Guangdong Nuclear Power Investment Co., Ltd and Hongkong Nuclear Power Investment Co., Ltd, which was responsible for the construction and operation of the Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station. Daya Bay Nuclear Power Station was the first large-scale commercial nuclear power station in China with two 984 MWe pressurized-water reactor units at a cost of 4 billion US dollars.

Lingao Nuclear Power Station is equipped with two 938 MWe PWR, with two additional reactors being brought on line (one under construction and plans for one more). As of April 2007 approval is pending from the State Council for the planned reactor. China Nuclear Industry 23rd Construction Corporation (CNI-23), one of main contractors, undertook the installation of the nuclear islands during the construction of Lingao Nuclear Power Station.

Lingao Nuclear Power Station, below, is beautiful too

M.T. Richard Fung, Technical Manager,

Hong Kong Nuclear Investment Company

The quantity of electricity produced at GNPS replaces the need to consume at least 3 million tonnes of coal per year, saving the annual discharge of at least 7.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, 150,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide, and many thousands of tonnes of nitrogen dioxide and airborne particulates from a coal fired power station into the environment. Daya Bay has about 900 staff members for its operation and alll of the senior operators have to obtain a licence issued by the National Nuclear Safety Administration before they can start working in the control room. GNPS still maintains a small team of international advisors, most of whom are French engineers from Electricite de France.

Zhang Xiaoping & Derry Bigby (center) with High School Students at Lingao reactor construction site

CLP made special arrangement for our tour and added students from Chan Wong Sok Fong Memorial Secondary School. They also arranged a very special lunch for everyone after the tour. The bus had to stop at an immigration office in Hong Kong as we left and another one in Mainland China right over the border. We had to repeat this going back to Hong Kong. Daya Bay is in Guangdong Province on the Mainland.

M.T. Richard Fung, Technical Manager, Hong Kong Nuclear Investment Company, conducted the tour at the Daya Bay nuclear power station complex. He is completely knowledgeable about every facet of the complex and provided a thorough tour experience for the Center and the Fong Secondary School students. Mr. Fung started with a video at the facility theater and proceeded to the education center where he answered all questions. Mr. Fung then assured that all participants were well informed about the Daya Bay units and the Lingao units. Mr. Fung is pictured at left with Center President Norris McDonald and above right in the center with the Fong High School students.

Zhang Xiaoping and Norris McDonald in front of the containment dome head for the containment dome above